Natural look is sexiest

Jane Ganahl

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, February 16, 2003

A few months ago, I received a press release from the Adam and Eve Web site, purveyors of sex information, toys, videos etc., that blew my mind. A survey it conducted showed that more than twice as many men thought women were sexier before breast implants than afterward.

Let me repeat that: The men thought women are less sexy after they go through the invasive procedure of breast augmentation -- presumably to become .

. . sexier. Once again, Mars and Venus ain't on speaking terms.

Forty-seven percent of the 1,000 men surveyed by Adam and Eve thought this, compared with only 21 percent who thought women were sexier after they had transformed themselves into Playmates. The rest said they weren't sure.

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One wonders if that last group had ever come into physical contact with a fake breast. That might push them into the "less sexy" vote. From what I understand, it's not the most erotic of encounters.

"Have you ever been with a girl with fake breasts?" hottie actor-du-jour Colin Farrell ("The Recruit") complained in an interview. "It's like groping a rock."

He must be groping lots of rocks these days because few actresses in Hollywood have not taken that road to Barbie-land. But there are still a few --

notably, those in the younger generation -- who frown on such artifice.

Asked whether she would ever submit to implant surgery to help her budding career, boyish-looking actress Natalie Portman scoffed: "Breast implants gross me out. I don't think they are attractive at all."

On some level, it would seem that implants are losing favor with the cognoscenti. Sorry to say, not so with the masses. Though the number of procedures done annually in North America dropped dramatically in the early 1990s because of the debate over the health effects of faulty implants, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of women getting breast augmentation more than doubled from 1997 to 2001. We are awash in saline and silicone.

But why are women going to such trouble if it's true that men prefer the natural breast?

From what I understand, having these things in your body is no picnic. You lose a degree of sensitivity, and forget about lying on your stomach again unless you normally relish sleeping on top of tennis balls.

I know, I know. Women would argue that they have this done for themselves, not for men. They say it helps their self-esteem. And I do sympathize with poor self-esteem, as one who grew up rail thin and teased endlessly in middle school about looking like a pancake. But I eventually learned -- possibly because I grew up praised and bolstered for my real talents -- that sexy was all about attitude. I felt like hot stuff because of my smarts and other attributes, and never spent too much time lamenting my lack of funbags.

So I question the logic of women who think this drastic measure will grant them hot-stuff status. Especially if you believe that survey. If women do it to be attractive, who is the mirror of their attractiveness if not the men who claim they prefer us unaltered?

At the same time, I wondered whether Adam and Eve's survey accurately represented the male point of view. Maybe folks who visit that Web site are more . . . sexually sophisticated? I didn't know, so I sent a question out to The Chronicle's legions of Two Cents participants. These are the folks who have signed up to be instant sounding boards for issues of the day -- all ages and ethnicities, from all walks of life.

We asked them: "Are women sexier before or after breast implants?" And the results floored me: Of about 50 male responses, only one (a 16-year-old boy) said unequivocally after. A few said it depended on the woman, but the vast majority said emphatically that women were sexier before. The reasons most cited were ones I always cited myself: that artificial is not sexy; organic is.

"There is nothing less sexy than the conditioning that links a woman's 'sexiness' to any cosmetic surgery," says Two-Cent reader Michael Dortch. "Every woman has the right to choose what to do with her body, but those who love women should remind them that sexiness comes from the heart and mind, and not from any surgeon's tools."

"Sexiness comes from within, and no amount of body alteration can guarantee that any given person will perceive him/herself as sexy," says Two-Center Jim MacDaniel. "So if breast implants improve a woman's self-confidence and self- image, then yes, she very well may be sexier because she feels sexier. However,

if breast implants are only a single step in a lifelong obsession with plastic surgery, then it's not only a turnoff, it's sad."

I was enchanted with the lyricism with which these men paid homage to the female mammary. A Two-Center named Bob rhapsodized: "Breasts are like poetry: some are succinct little haikus, some sonnets, some odes and some, well, epics.

Each has its own beauty, and the delightful individuality is cause for celebration."

And Paul August contributed this: "Authentic anatomy sparkles with sensuality, inviting shapes and natural beauty. Breast implants elicit curiosity, are inflated out of proportion and are inadequate substitutes for what nature has to offer. It's a choice between real or artificial, normal or bizarre, and genuine or phony. Take your pick."

Ladies, are you convinced yet? I'll grant you that these editorial-writing Two-Centers are possibly smarter and more sophisticated than your average citizen, but since this is the type of man I admire, I am bolstered and edified by these words.

We did have three female respondents; one of those thought women were sexier with bigger busts. "After, definitely," writes Christine, who is pondering having the procedure done. "When men refer to a woman with a 'good body,' they usually are referring to a woman with a full chest."